Bathing a baby in a sink or bathtub, under the water faucet is quite convenient. By setting the baby right under the water spout, one does not need to carry the clean bath water anywhere or empty a tub full of dirty water afterwards. Furthermore, bathing the baby right at the faucet ensures that fresh, warm water is readily available.
However, the hot water flowing from a water faucet may also be hazardous. If the water is too hot, there is a danger, to anyone who comes in contact with the hot water, of being burned or scalded. Burns from hot water often result in third degree burns, and can even lead to death.
The danger is especially significant to an infant's delicate skin, which may be more easily damaged by hot water than may be an adult's skin. According to some sources, thousands of children a year are burned while being bathed. In fact, when bathing infants or young children, it is strongly recommended to use only tepid or lukewarm water.
Furthermore, if the water flowing from the water faucet is too hot, the water spout itself may be heated to a temperature hot enough to produce a burn on contact.
Sinks and bathtubs equipped with water faucet assemblies operated by lever-type handles make bathing a baby especially convenient. The handle, or handles, of such a water faucet swivels left and right to adjust the mix of hot and cold water, and up and down to adjust the pressure of the water flow. The lever-type handle of a water faucet allows the water to be quickly and easily mixed with one hand, which leaves the other hand free to hold the baby, reach for the soap, etc.
However, the same facility with which the lever-type handle of a water faucet can be moved intentionally also means that an unintentional movement can just as easily remixed or open the water. For example, one might accidentally bump the lever-type faucet handle when reaching for the soap. Such an unintentional movement may cause the lever-type handle to increase the flow of hot water. Or the baby might reach out to play with the lever-type handle, and unknowingly turn the water on. In either case, if too much hot water flows, even for a moment, there is a risk that the delicate skin of the baby will be burned.
Therefore, there is a need for a means to limit the flow of water from a water faucet operated by at least one lever-type handle, in order to protect against the risk of accidental burns and scalding that can result from using water that is too hot.
A patent application number WO8504233, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, discloses a limiting arrangement for controlling the maximum temperature of the mixed water in a single-grip mixing valve. A cover of the valve's control unit is provided with pockets or equivalent to receive a limiter body. Each of the pockets enables blocking the rotation movement of the valve limiting it to a predefined position (locking predefined percentages of the water flow).
A patent number GB2312490, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, discloses a valve actuator cover that comprises a body having a cavity in which the actuator is received in use to prevent access to the actuator. The body is secured to a valve by elements, which may be traversed to increase the available opening for receiving the actuator when fitting the cover. The elements may be secured by coupling arrangements to prevent elements traversing laterally when a force is applied to the body.
A patent number U.S. Pat. No. 5,363,880, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, discloses a hot/cold water mixing faucet that includes a conical bonnet fastened to the faucet body thereof at the top and fixed in position by a flush bolt, which has a longitudinal stop edge on the outside to limit the turning angle of the handle of the faucet. The bonnet also includes a spring-supported stop member mounted on the handle and having a front stop bar stopped against the a low-level surface on the conical bonnet at one side of the longitudinal stop edge, whereby the conical bonnet can be set at the desired position closer to the hot water inlet or the cold water inlet, by means of controlling the flush bolt, so as to limit the maximum output water temperature within the desired range.
All the above-mentioned patents and patent applications require sophisticated plumbing and integrating of the limiting means in the faucets and valves assemblies. These solutions mainly require the valve/faucet to be especially designed to receive the limiting means. This may require the customer to buy a new faucet in order to have these water-flow limiting means.